My children are by turns infuriating, exasperating, adorable, and wildly entertaining. They often provide inspiration for my designs. My coworkers have come to expect April Fool's jokes involving purple and pink flying pony unicorns--all thanks to my three daughters' obsession with My Little Pony.

My 8-year old daughter wants to grow up to be an inventor. Her primary goal is to build a time machine. We have an early prototype built out of an apple juice container proudly displayed on top of the fridge. It doesn't actually go anywhen (that I know of), but she can tell you how all the parts will work.

Several months ago I was gymercizing on the elliptical trainer in the garage. I was working on a particularly challenging problem: designing a time control for a specific web application. It was plaguing me, irritating me. It felt like the solution was just out of reach, mocking me by lurking at the edges of my peripheral vision.

At the same time, I was thinking about the unlikelihood of Nora achieving her current life's goal, and frankly it sort of depressed me. (I mean, how many of us can say that we actually accomplished the dreams we had at 8 years old?) It occurred to me that my time control didn't have to go forward. It could go back instead! Another design problem solved thanks to my wonderfully strange children.